The Briefing
by Kanmeros
Summary: Hershey the cat embarks on a mission from the Underground Resistance to investigate about who is in control of Robotropolis after Robotnik's defeat.


The Briefing

A Sonic The Hedgehog Fan-Fiction

By

RedDragonKan

Adapted from the animated series by Dic and Archie Comics.

The Underground Resistance had many locations around the planet now. After the fall of Robotnik, bunkers have been used underground to hold meetings and to regroup after each mission. The original Headquarters has been moved to an undisclosed location to confuse anyone trying to meddle in their affairs. Once, the underground resistance fought for the same goals as the Freedom Fighters from Knothole did, now the small army was fighting for something entirely different, total sovereignty of their own choosing. They believed a world under the power of monarchy would only lead to a new wave of disaster.

The Underground Resistance successfully barricaded Robotropolis, making strict restrictions about anyone walking inside. Little by little, they've gotten rid of SWATbot squadrons, which still were under the influence of their fallen leader, and also formed a perimeter around the main structure where Robotnik used to rule over. However, said structure was then domed by a shield of sheer energy, one that was impenetrable and could not be hacked away by any terminal outside the palace. Many attempts had been made to raid it, but none have ever been successful save by one attempt created by Geoffrey St. John, who led a small squadron through a tunnel that was overseen by security terminals. However he never truly came back from said mission and he simply vanish within the structure. Many believed he was captured and even robotcizied by now.

Something Hershey the cat refused to believe. She was certain that St. John was not only alive, but also free of any kind of robotic process at all. When she was called to run a stealthy mission to Robotroplis and sneak inside Robotnik's main headquarters, she gladly accepted. Hershey was one of the few who underwent heavy duty training in the art of stealth and espionage. She preferred moving silently in the shadows rather than exposing herself in hand to hand combat. She walked the main hallway inside the bunker towards the door leading inside a meeting chamber, cracking her neck and trying not to look too anxious about her assignment. The only thing that worried her was what to say once she found Geoffrey. She stopped at the front door and knocked on it.

"Maybe I should call you a twit."

The door opened with a faint swoosh made by the tight air compression. Hershey entered the briefing room, taking notice of the monitors aligned all around the walls. This room was smaller compared to the one used at the main headquarters, being that the group inhabiting it was also of a small number. It was compiled of a table, no bigger than the room was with four chairs on its corners. Three male members of the group were present, including Colonel Jolton, a warthog, First Lieutenant Slade, a Doberman, and Sergeant Francis, a falcon who sat to the rightmost corner of the table. In the center there was a holographic display of Robotropolis, the same design used by Princess Sally. Hershey saluted them all as they nodded to her presence.

"At ease Agent Hershey, take a seat." Jolton said.

"Sir, yes sir."

Hershey pulled the only empty chair and sat down, making herself as comfortable as the metal alignment of the simplistic chair would allow. Jolton cleared his throat and rested his arms on the table, fiddling his fingers and looking straight at her. The other two simply directed their eyes at her as he did this. Hershey remained calm although she did felt a bit nervous about being here concealed inside a room devoid of any sound other than the constant hum of the hologram. She never felt like this whenever St. John was around. Then again, he wasn't around at all.

"As you know, our troops quickly moved in after the fall of Robotnik, seizing control of Robotropolis and confronting what was left of his forces. We formed a perimeter that would cover most of the city, with some exceptions. Anyone not associated with the Underground Resistance was successfully driven out and not allowed to get within the limits of the City even, we had a constant watch ever since."

As the lights dimmed down, the monitors came alive displaying various images of Robotroplis and locations where troops were on a constant watch out. It also showed a playback of many taking down and destroying any SWATbots trying to interfere with their duties. Of course it didn't show all victories, there were many casualties as they fought for dominance, but in the end, the city was theirs for the most part.

"We also had taken precautions on taking over Robotnik's main place of operations, but before we raided the palace, we found an unlikely problem that prevented us from taking it over."

The central hologram of the city displayed a domed perimeter forming around Robotnik's palace, taking a big chunk out of the surroundings as well. The monitors switched to clips of UR soldiers trying to break through the force barrier, some planting explosives, other shooting a concentrated beam from a massive mobile turret. None of the options seemed to have effect as Hershey noticed the domed unscathed.

"We are unsure of who has done such thing, other than assumptions of one other suspect might've had a hand on this." All monitors switched to an image of a small balding man with a prolonged nose and wearing what it appeared to be a military uniform of a goofy design.

"Snively then." Hershey pointed out.

"Yes, Snively...but that seems to be only an assumption being that no one has seen him as he tried to take over his master's job for world dominance. As we all know, his counterattack fell short of a failure after the Freedom Fighters of Knothole put an end to it, nullifying his attempts. However, we do not know who else might've had access to Robotnik's main security files, being that we couldn't had hacked a way in from any terminal around the city. It would seem that whoever had done this also had shut off all sort of connections with any computer and made it so that the building would become one independent being."

"But that would mean the energy feedback would have to be greatly cut off from the main reactors." Hershey assumed.

"Indeed that would've been the case," said Slade, "but it seems that building is receiving energy from another source than the reactors, otherwise the shield around it would've fallen a long time ago. The palace seems to be in good condition as it is."

"We had tried to nullify its power by hacking into the terminals," Francis clarified "but that didn't drop the shield. It seems that whoever is in control also has the means to feed energy from within the building overall."

Hershey rested her cheek on her right fist, confused at this.

"There was one time we successfully managed to get inside Robotnik's headquarters however," Jolton added "St. John and his squad all went under a passageway that wasn't listed on the sewage maps of the region. It seemed Robotnik changed the pipelines entirely under his domain to prevent any unwanted guests from raiding it from the ground up. St. John was able to get inside and gather information that would help us figure out a way to take over the last remaining line of defense. You already know how that turned out."

Hershey straighten out her pose and crossed her arms, nodding.

Jolton resumed. "It has been three months since we heard anything of him, not a single hint of his whereabouts was found, nor of his colleagues that followed him in. We have given up any kind of search and considered him MIA. Of course, many of us still had thought him to be alive and probably a prisoner inside Robotnik's HQ, but no plead of a ransom or anything like it has been given at all. A month ago we received this clip from one of our scouting orbs over the region called Quartz Quadrant; I think you would find this a bit interesting."

The screens faded black and then came alive again, all playing a video sequence of a quarry near a plateau in the desert. Hershey focused on the small rig near it, as well as various forms of drilling equipment just below the quarry. Small gray specs could be seen from afar, which looked like labor bots in a constant yet monotonous vibe digging around the walls. The camera moved forward to the top of the quarry, where a female shape was spotted. Zooming in the image of said figure resembled that of a bat wearing tight clothing, black with hi-top white boots. Hershey scrunched her nose at her sight. Jolton raised the remote control and froze the image as the bat's face turned to the right side.

"Rouge the bat. Mercenary for hire and Treasure Hunter. We haven't heard anything from her until the time this was delivered to us. We assume she was not manning this operation, being that she is not the kin of person getting her pretty fingernails dirty for anything short of Chaos Emeralds and the like. So when we saw her at a coal quarry, we really got curious as to what she was up to. We saw plenty when contestant number 2 showed up."

He resumed the video after she turned her face completely away. After a few seconds, a hulking white furred wolf stride up to her with animalistic manners. His eyes, glaring orbs of predatory nature, fixated on the bat. Hershey raised her eyebrows and leaned her face forward after realizing who he was.

"Son of a-"

"Drago. Drago the wolf."

Slade cleared his throat and continued. "We assume he is the one behind this little operation on the side, but not the one behind anything else there might be going on. As to why we are showing you this video besides the obvious, is that we also received a sound file with a fragment of a message. This message is what pieces togheter our assumptions about St. John and his whereabouts. General Jolton will be kind to play it for us now."

A weary look from Jolton and he clicked the button on his remote to activate the speakers. A gargled voice came through with a sequence code, but Hershey quickly recognized it. She made her best attempt at not appearing anxious. As the frequency cleared, bits of it could only be heard through static.

"Delta Four Nine -bzzz- Drago is -bzzz- with us. He got -bzzzzz- on -bzzzzzzzzzz- deadly weapon of massive destructive -bzzzzz-. -bzzzzzzzz- Time Stones-"

"And that was it. Nothing else came through when we intercepted it"

General Jolton turned off the speakers and the monitors, and clicked a switched which made the holographic map of Robotroplis glow with a variety of colors, until it finally decided to outline the entire structure with a blue grid.

"Although we do not have the means to enter inside the palace as St. John did, we do know that he contacted someone prior to Drago when he was able to do so. This man...or men gave him the required information on undisclosed maps of hidden pipelines Robotnik constructed from scratch, away from the classic design the former royal palace had. To our understanding, he did so no one would be able to surprise him by using an underground attack, he did sealed the old pipelines to prevent the same, and routed everything on the new section. St. John was able to go through here thanks to this secretive group. This group was the one responsible for handing us the sound file transmitted from an unknown area. The only thing we know is that the signal came from a section in Robotropolis, on the poorest district where Robotnik treated it as a landfill for scrap."

The portion of the map lighted up on the grid, a constant blink of yellowish color. Hershey looked intently. Jolton picked up the remote and clicked on it, brining the screens alive once more. Images of a figure covered in shadows appeared, the only thing Hershey could see when she looked up was the fluorescent glare from the eyes.

"The name given to us when the package was received was Ebony Darkstar. Although that may not be his real name. He also stated that his group knows about Geoffrey St. John and where he might be located at. Keep in mind, we are not so sure this is the case, but he seemed confident on his own message. By now you may be asking yourself why this man is helping us. If you had guessed that he may want something in turn, you are on the right track."

"So what is it that they require in turn?" Hershey asked.

"Your services as their spy."

Hershey shifted in an uncomfortable manner. She has in the past done spy jobs for her own superiors, but of course, that was done for people she trusted. To do so for people she had never heard for was something she was not too confident about. She noticed Jolton studying her reaction and let an exasperated sigh.

"Agent Hershey you have been our top stealth interceptor, never missing a case and always returning with the job done. We also have selected you for the fact that you have been intrigued about St. John's disappearance. So much in fact, that you have been on a constant investigation on your own, retrieving files from his last mission and going as far as doing silent runs on your own to try and locate anything about him. This seems to be taking you away from your own duties as an UR operative, and we are getting worried that you may get caught in something you didn't meant to find out. If this case can help you be at ease to what you may find about him, then we are willing to trust this shadowy person. Now Hershey before I continue, I must ask if YOU are willing to undergo this mission to its very end, regardless of what you find."

Hershey took a deep breath now that he brought it up. In one hand, there was so much she did not know about Ebony or if he was just tricking everybody to get his own way. In the other, proof about St. John's location and his involvement with Drago did perplex her. Then there was the fact that she wanted to see him again. She's been wishing to do that on her own however, but it seemed she was found out either way. She smiled.

"You are quiet perceptive General."

"I have not grown old for nothing dear. Now, tell us. Will you do this mission?"

"Sir. Yes sir."

Slade smiled as did Francis, who all this time kept it to himself. General Jolton nodded.

"Very well then, we will now provide you with what you will need in this mission."

He reached on his side and brought up a backpack, carefully passing it on to Francis, who in turn passed it on to her. Hershey received with a nod of thanks to the Sergeant and set it on her lap.

"Go ahead and open it up, your new toys are waiting."

Hershey unzipped the bag and reached inside, taking out a rather large blaster with its tip heavy with plates around it. She placed fidgeted around with it until the safety was off, then calibrated it in an expert manner.

"That is a heavy duty needle. It was salvaged from the junkyard at an old base in the southeast. We customized it to serve various functions, being that things will get rough once you tread on dangerous ground. Although you may not have the need for it in some cases, the needle will be of great use in case you find SWATbots in your way. It uses are also benefactor in case you have to deal with mobian hostility and labor bots."

Hershey raised an eyebrow at the latter statement. Jolton nodded towards Francis' direction, which then cleared his throat with a soft squawk.

"Yes well, the needle is equipped with a powerful taser that shoots shorts bursts of power. These bullets, when in contact with something as big as SWATbot, knocks the internal circuitry out, stunning them to the point that they become nothing else than an empty shell. The needle can calibrate its frequency, allowing the user to shoot at anything else with less than lethal results. For anything living, you would simply knock them out for a couple of minutes, making them have a rather nasty nap and nothing more than a headache when they awake. Now, for labor bots and you may find this unbelievable, a squad once stated that labor bots turned highly hostile when they patrolled near a factory named Wacky Workbench. So hostile in fact, that it was them whom they had to be wary about instead of the usual SWATbots. We do not know why their behavior became so dangerous, but it is a fact that you may run in with some of them in that state. The needle can shirt circuit them, but it is not the same effect once you calibrate it at a lower frequency. They should be OK if anything, although we have never tested it on any of them just yet."

Francis offered further explanation once he noted Hershey's look of concern "We simply don't know what to expect from them now. We also hope you never have to confront them being that they are doing this against their own will as they did when Robotnik was in power."

Hershey set the needle on the table and reached inside for another item, she retrieved what it seemed to be an elongated crimson glove. It had sharp fingertips and plates all over it.

"This is the Ocktoclaw. It fits into any shape of the bearer's arm, and it contracts so it doest slip off. Its main uses are mostly physical; you can easily climb with it, combat with its laser claws, which can be upgraded, and being able to deflect most firepower including lasers and plasma shots. It is also resilient against most metal objects and rock-like weapons. It increases your strength in your arm about three times when used."

"Do you have the matching pair by any chance?"

Francis cleared his throat again. Hershey grinned and fit her left arm in it. As he state it, it soon began retracting to her slim size and it fit accordingly in the end. She looked over and noted a small panel with various buttons on it. She turned it around and noted there was a small whole structure on her palm. She looked at Francis.

"The design is rather odd but there is a reason for it. On the palm you may be able to store items without dropping them; we figure it could be of use at some point. This glove we design it after a blueprint found in the same junkyard in an abandoned storage unit. We tested it all its functions, but you won't need most of them for it is mostly defensive purposes."

Hershey rummaged through some more, finding a small bag and some ear buds with a mic implanted on it.

"Anything else you have inside are communication devices, ID cards to be used at various sections of Robotropolis, rations, and a neckband that serves as voice changer" Francis stated, "it will be handy in case you have to go through a door with vocal ID, and whenever you need to get by in disguise."

"I am starting to like this more and more already." Hershey said, while strapping on said neckband. "I just hope the rations are as good as some say."

Once she replaced everything minus the neckband and the glove inside, Jolton clicked the remote once more. The monitors switched its images to display various faces on them. Jolton rested his hands on the table.

"Let us review our gallery of unusual suspects involved o far. Rouge the bat, not much known other than being a treasure hunter and hired mercenary, Drago the wolf, seemingly manning a quarry in Quartz Quadrant, seemed to be involved in the disappearance of St. John. Ebony Darkstar, mysterious figure who is willing to aid in St. John's disappearance in exchange for your services, which up to date, hasn't been revealed to us. Finally, St. John, who is your main objective in all this. If you find him, you must bring him without any questions asked, no matter what Ebony tells you."

Hershey nodded. Jolton pressed another button on the remote and the images onscreen were replaced to show four more figures. She found it interesting being that they seem so curious to her.

"From left to right, these will be people you will be contacting during your mission. Medusa, your very first contact, a vulpine laborbot who once used to be part of our group and was roboticized when she got caught in a mission. She retained her consciousness after we snapped her out of Robotnik's control. Ever since, she had helped us greatly from the inside as a spy and intel. Since Robotnik was too wrapped with Sir Charles after knowing of his demise, it made it easier for us to continue our operations with her in the shadows. She is currently posing as an assembly operative at Wacky Workbench. She may be able to inform you about the odd behavior of the laborbots working there and why their sudden outburst of hostility towards anyone who nears the place. Next on the list is Vector, a crocodile living in the Southside section of Robotroplis named "Urban Mobius", he and Espio are Private Investigators who had a run-in with Rouge not too long ago. He should provide you with useful info about the intentions of the treasure hunter, if anything. Finally, Marquez, a Wolf Shaman from the depths of the desert and member of the Wolfpack Freedom Fighters. His blindness couldn't stop him from aiding in the last battle against Robotnik, and he served quite well, but was gravely injured and now resides temporarily in Knothole. You will find him among the patients in the hospital tent Princess Sally set up to take care of the survivors. I am sure you will find a way to infiltrate without giving away too much."

Jolton shifted and turned off three monitors, only leaving the fourth one containing the image of a weasel wearing a cowboy getup and holding an old six-shooter, a smug look on his face bearing a huge fang protruding from the side of his mouth.

"Now, I told you there are four people you can contact, but only three of them are crucial for he mission. Knack the weasel, otherwise known as Fang, it's an optional contact. The last he was seen was when he escaped from Robotnik's palace, even after the dome was lit up. It seemed that he knew a way to get in and out without being noticed or even bothered. If you choose to see him, his whereabouts lead to Lower Mobius after he escaped sure death in the hands of both renegade SWATbots and laborbots. Although we are not sure if he is residing there or hiding where no one bothers to look, one thing is for sure, he couldn't have gotten far underground, being that the pipelines are infested with mechanic rats and the natural caves herald poisonous gas which cannot be nullified even with the strongest of gasmasks available. He must be hiding in Lower Mobius. Be careful when dealing with him, he is a scumbag."

Jolton turned off the monitors and turned on the rest of the lights. Hershey took mental notes about everyone and crossed her arms, thinking this adventure may get a bit longer than she previously thought.

"One last word of advice, Agent Hershey. No one is to know about this mission. Not even our own comrades patrolling Robotropolis."

Hershey had thought this couldn't get any worse than it already had.

"We are very wary of anyone knowing about this to get unwanted attention. Any kind of leak will turn disastrous. This is why you must sneak in and out without letting anyone not in your contact list a chance to spot you. Should this be out in the open, who knows what the likes of Princess Sally will do, or for that manner, our little hush-hush group who was "kind" enough to let us know about our objectives. If there anything else you may want to ask, you may do so know."

Hershey shook her head. She looked over at Slade then at Francis. They both nodded in her direction.

"Well then, you will depart as of this moment. You will thread through the Great Forest in an area only charted by our forces, so you may not be found by any kind of sentinel either from Robotropolis or Knothole. Within the area there is a resting spot, I suggest you take an hour tops to preserve your strength, being that once you get in Robotropolis , there might not be a chance to get any rest. You will reach the slums overnight if you do not distract yourself. You may leave when ready."

Hershey got up from the chair and saluted.

"Sir...I will bring St. John back."

"Godspeed Hershey."

With that, she turned and picked up the backpack on her way to the door. Once she was outside, the door automatically closed. Jolton pressed a button on the table and a second set of doors closed, tightening the lock from the inside. Slade cracked his neck and looked at Jolton.

"Are you sure she won't mess up?" 

"Even if she does, the ball will be already in motion. I just hope your former colleague Gunthar doesn't get in the way."

"Oh don't worry...his patriotism will not prevent him from leaving Princess Sally's side. He is a good, obedient dog still loyal to his master."

"Unlike you, eh Slade? You might just bite the hand that feeds you if I am not mistaken."

Slade glared at Francis, who seemed amused.

"Yeah...I wonder how falcon legs taste like with the proper amount of steak sauce."

"Gentlemen please." Jolton interfered, "We must tend to our issue here. Agent Hershey will get to Robotroplis by this night, yes? Well then, assuming her speed and effectiveness will be 100%, she will contact mister Ebony at the slums in about half an hour later. "

He placed a small disk just outside the hologram of Robotropolis. The chip sparked and an image of Hershey running in place was activated.

"The initial piece of our chess game has just moved. Soon, she will set the rest of the pieces in motion and we will just keep a close eye on things. After all, we wouldn't want her to find out too much about the entire ordeal."

He pressed a button on the table and a bigger hologram appeared on top of Robotropolis. It was an image of a sphere revolving in place slowly. Its design seemed to be that of an artificial moon than anything else.

"That face on it sure is creepy." Francis pointed. Slade smirked and rested his right hand in front of his chin.

"Yes, but I know we can get around it once the plans are in motion, make it look less moronic."

"It is a peculiar weapon that Robotnik was kind enough to leave its blueprints behind I agree." Jolton said, resting his hands on the table "If everything goes as planned, we will have no problems on convincing Mobius that its people doesn't need a King anymore."

"Or a Queen." added Slade.

They all smiled silently as the lights dimmed, leaving the rotating image of the sphere looming deviously. Below it, Hershey's image was still chasing the city.

Hershey reached the outskirts of Robotroplis sooner than she expected. Her body felt lighter than before, being that she rested over an hour in the spot Jolton recommended. She had no problems evading anyone scouting the perimeter, being that it was too dark for anyone to bother where she traveled. The only thing between her and the ominous city was over ten yards of deserted terrain with no vegetation whatsoever. Robotropolis was quite a sight at night, with its various lights and stoic presence. However, said vision would lead to the fact that it was overrun with pollution and lack of life inside. Hershey always hesitated when she came close to this place.

She soon felt the drops of water on her body as rain began to pour. The soft pats of them bouncing off her fur felt like a constant assurance which she gladly took. Even if the rain was not all pure, she let it wash away all doubt and let her confidence kick in, just as she began running towards the city.

Her mission had just begun.


End file.
